The Best Simple Gazpacho Soup

I was introduced to gazpacho when I was a waiter at a restaurant next to Central Park, New York, in the early 2000s. The summer was particularly hot and everyone was on a gazpacho craze. I couldn’t understand why they wanted to slurp cold pureed tomatoes. Ick! One taste of a bowl of thick red gazpacho and I swore it off for years.

That was until I stumbled upon a recipe in Real Simple magazine and needed a summer starter to serve dinner guests. I decided to give it a try and have been in love with this recipe ever since. But I have to admit that I still hate gazpacho at restaurants and only love this one. It is perfect on a hot day when you don’t want to cook or for summer holiday lunches with a salad.

Ingredients
6 medium tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1 red bell pepper, coarsely chopped
1/2 small red onion, coarsely chopped
1 garlic clove
1 long cucumber, half coarsely chopped and the other half for serving
1/4 cup or 4 tablespoons of olive oil
2 teaspoons of red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar
salt and black pepper
2 tablespoons of chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
fresh baguette for serving, preferably toasted

Method
1. Puree the coarsely chopped tomatoes, bell pepper, onion, garlic, and cucumber in a blender. You might need to work in batches.
2. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the olive oil, red wine or sherry vinegar, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper.
3. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 1 day.
4. When you are ready to serve, top each bowl with chopped parsley, small cubed or diced pieces of cucumber, and a little drizzle of olive oil. Serve with the baguette.

Image by Marjorie Preval

A little Manna…
– sherry vinegar = vinaigre de xérès